Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

IMMIGRATION

Fire in Germany refugee shelter injures 37

A fire broke out in a refugee shelter in Germany overnight injuring 37 people, mainly due to smoke inhalation, police said on Sunday as they searched for the cause.

Published: 11 June 2017 12:45 CEST
Fire in Germany refugee shelter injures 37
Germany's migrant influx has sparked both a large wave of volunteerism and an ugly anti-foreigner backlash. Photo: DPA

Emergency services took 10 children and four adults to hospital after the blaze started around 2:30 am (0030 GMT) in the basement of the five-storey building in the northwestern city of Bremen.

The fire brigade responded with 70 personnel and 27 vehicles, using ladders to rescue some inhabitants from the smoke-filled building through windows.

Police said some 50 people had to be resettled in another shelter.

The fire was thought to have started in a garbage bin in the cellar, for as yet unknown reasons, they said in a statement. Officers were interviewing witnesses.

Germany, the EU's most populous country, has taken in over one million asylum seekers since 2015, about half of them from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The influx has sparked both a large wave of volunteerism and an ugly anti-foreigner backlash that has seen a spate of hate crimes targeting migrants and refugees.

For members

FIRE

Why have there been so many fires in Copenhagen this year?

Thursday’s fire at Denmark’s tax ministry follows a blaze at the historic Old Stock Exchange and several fires at the headquarters of pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

Published: 27 June 2024 15:11 CEST
Why have there been so many fires in Copenhagen this year?

A fire broke out on Thursday morning on the roof of the building which houses Denmark’s Tax Ministry in central Copenhagen, which fire services in the capital were able to put out shortly afterwards.

The Tax Ministry fire is at least the fifth high-profile blaze in and around Copenhagen since April, following three at different buildings owned by pharma giant Novo Nordisk and the devastating fire which turned parts of the historic Old Stock Exchange (Børsen) to rubble.

The high number of fires occurring within a relatively short period appears to be down to no more than chance, Jens Kastvig, an expert with the Danish Society of Engineers said to newswire Ritzau.

“There’s always a risk that a fire can break out in a building,” Kastvig said, noting that the average annual fire rate is around one per 100,000 to 150,000 square metre of building.

“That could be anything from a smaller to a larger fire,” he said.

Kastvig said that he initially guessed the Tax Ministry fire was the result of renovation work.

Both Børsen and the Novo Nordisk buldings were also undergoing renovations at the time of their fires. This increases the risk of fire breaking out in a more flammable material such as bitumen waterproofing, or a fire otherwise related to the ongoing work.

No renovations were ongoing at the Tax Ministry however, the building’s owner ATP Ejendomme has confirmed.

“The fire services are busy at the moment. But I hope it’s a coincidence,” Kastvig said.

Tim Ole Sørensen of the Copenhagen Fire Service, Hovedstadens Beredskab, said on Thursday that there was no suggestion that the fires were related.

“There’s nothing that indicates any form of connection at all to us, and we are talking about very different businesses and types of building,” he said.

SHOW COMMENTS